David G. Curtis

Dr.
David G. Curtis is the son of H. W. and Eleanor Eames Curtis,
natives of New York and Massachusetts, respectively. They were
married in Jamestown, N. Y., where they lived until the death of
the father, which occurred in 1871. After the death of the
father the mother came to Chattanooga to reside with her
children, three of whom had preceded her to this place. She died
in 1887 at the advanced age of eighty years. The subject of our
sketch was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., on the 20th
of July, 1836. During his youth and minority he had very fair
educational advantages, his father, though not rich, being a
merchant, possessed liberal means and gave his son David, with
his other children (of whom there were four besides David-two
sons and two daughters), fair opportunity for the acquisition of
knowledge and intellectual training. At the age of twenty our
subject began the study of medicine and finished his course in
1858, graduating from Berkshire Medical College, Massachusetts.
Desiring to study the diseases of the Mississippi Valley, he
attended the Hahnemann Medical School of St. Louis, and
afterward located in southwestern Missouri to practice his
profession. In 1863 he volunteered in the United States Navy at
Mound City, Ill., serving as assistant surgeon on the United
States steamer, "Carondolet," until the close of the war. In
1865 he married Miss Sarah R. Edmiston, of Huntsville, Ohio, who
has borne him three children, two of whom are living-both boys.
He practiced his profession in Ohio until 1871, when he came to
Chattanooga, where be has since resided, practicing medicine. He
has been a member of the board of health nine years and is now
it's vice-president.He went through the various epidemics that have scourged
our city since his arrival in it, the cholera in 1873, the
yellow fever in 1878, and the small-pox in 1883, rendering
heroic and efficient service in them all. He is now a member of
the city school board and has been for some time. He has also
been quite successful in real estate deals as well as an able
practitioner. He is one of the original number who established
the Ice & Cold Storage Company of Chattanooga, and is now its
vice-president and one of its directors. The Doctor is a man of
rather radical views on most questions and has the courage of
his convictions. He always talks "from the shoulder out" and his
position on any question can be easily ascertained. He believes
in the Darwinian theory of the " survival of the fittest." He is
destined to make his impress on the community, in which he
lives.